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Then she started wrapping me up in duct tape Even in the middle of a car accident, I was stil public eneot in the car and after I was careful y belted in, Dex ed to reverse it up the embankment Luckily, it wasn’t as steep as it looked ent bounding down it The Highlander shuddered and s down the highway again

The night sky was clear as we left thehil s, and far off in the distance you could see the sky easing black to blue The horizon looked fresh and clean and the dying stars twinkled brightest before they faded Daas co

It was near eight in the , when the landscape was sunny, dusty and squint-worthy bright, that I felt a cloak of blackness settle over ht I had been waiting to receive it A net of indescribable evil

A voice spoke out deep inside my head That voice from the bowels of creation, one that encapsulated all pain and suffering the world has ever known - and relished it

Give up, it said To resist is to bring pain Pain to your loved ones Pain to yourself Give up and you’ll be spared You’ll be free

Try ht

I raised my chin and looked at Dex and Ada, ere lost in their own thoughts, watching the flat far out of my chest "I don’t have as I didn’t know if it would be enough

When we arrived outside the small , reservation town of Lapwai, I was a complete write-off There was no hope left for et control back but I was too tired and too weak to be any threat I spent the entire car ride trapped in ues, I writhed and screah to put a piece of duct tape over my mouth

She then proceeded to tapeall three rol s of the tape they’d purchased fro that as soon as Dex navigated the Highlander up to a desolate rancher on the sage-brushed outskirts, the tape began to co was at an all -ti would have propel ed ain, for the final tiet to cheat the devil once

Dex slammed the car into park and he and Ada ju inside The rusty door to the sed open and a tal , slirey San Francisco Giants sweatshirt stepped out He was surprisingly young, you know, for an exorcist, maybe a few years older than Dex

Dex shook the orously and then, as the ed from the trailer

It was Bird Stoic Bird from Red Fox, with his dusty denim jacket, weather-beaten face and imitation Raybans

Aside fro to Dex’s head wound with concern, there was no time for a reunion Dex pointed at the car and they all caet the creature away from me, to be able to act as myself to Bird and to tel hiain, but I couldn’t If anything, my attempts made it push me back even farther A layer of filh a thick piece of lah underwater channels

Dex opened the door and the exorcist and Bird peered down atme out I puffed in and out the piece of duct tape instead, tried to wriggle roans

The man, who I assu in his native tongue Then he began yel ing at Bird in that language, pointing atBird laid his hands on Roe

Final y, Dex asked, "Excuse me but what’s the probleht-lipped smile "Roman’s upset because I didn’t tel him how bad she real y was"

"I didn’t know," Dex said to hiht You speak English, right?"

"Yes, I speak English," Roestured at one; this is unfixable"

If I had a heart that stil belonged to me, it would have been shattered wide open

I was unfixable

I was going to die

Dex grabbed Roht up to his face

"You’re going to fix her," he snarled, his dark eyes sparking as they bore holes into Roer than she looks She is stil in there and you’re going to help her, or so help me God"

"You’l need your God if you think you’re going to win this battle," Roave a short nod "OK Let’s see e can do Just, please release me"

Dex stared at him intensely for a few seconds, the dried blood down the side of his facehim look borderline homicidal, before he backed off and unclenched his hands from the sweatshirt He took a quick look atto cool off

I was foa out underneath the duct tape Ro in his language again Even though he was Nez Perce, it sounded like Navajo to my faraway ears and would explain why he and Bird could talk to each other

Bird nodded and replied back Then as Roman started to undo the duct tape, Bird’s warht as he leaned close to ently "I can see past these eyes I know you’re in there I know you can hear ht now but we’l need you to listen to us

Youto be very complicated But it’s not impossible You must have faith

You must cal on your faith Faith in God, if you stil believe

Faith in the universe if you don’t Faith in love Faith in yourself and faith in others Faith wil give you courage and grant you hope Use that"